It is known in the art to employ supported alkali metal catalysts for such chemical conversions as propylene dimerization. In addition, the use of alkali metal carbonates as catalyst supports is known in the art. However, the use of such catalysts as alkali metals supported on alkali metal carbonate supports has been disadvantageous, especially in fixed bed operations, for the reason that the supports do not have sufficient strength to withstand the rigors of fixed bed operation. Instead, prior art olefin dimerization catalyst systems have frequently been limited to use in batch-wise reaction due to the catalyst solubility or due to the fragile nature of the prior art particulate catalysts, i.e. the propensity of such catalysts to crumble under the conditions imposed by fixed bed operation.
Furthermore, prior art olefin dimerization catalysts do not always give high yields of the desired products, either due to low feed conversion, low product selectivity or both.